THE RAPPORT – 8 June to 21 June 2026

THE RAPPORT is the only newsletter devoted to briefing human rights practitioners on the communications of the UN Special Procedures. It is written by our Principal, Kate McInnes, and is published on Sundays on a biweekly basis. To subscribe and read the full newsletter, visit https://therapport.substack.com/

Americas

• Human rights violations affecting peasant communities in the Ancash region of Peru, committed in the context of copper and zinc mining by the company Antamina — whose principal shareholders are domiciled in Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland — requires remedial measures on the part of both companies and states, say the Working Groups on business and human rights and peasants and the Special Rapporteurs on climate change, environment, health, human rights defenders, hazardous substances, and safe drinking water. (OTH 36/2026, OTH 37/2026, OTH 38/2026, OTH 40/2026, OTH 41/2026, OTH 42/2026, CHE 2/2026, PER 4/2026, JPN 1/2026, DEU 2/2026, CAN 2/2026, AUS 4/2026)

• Irregularities in the arrest of and the conduct of judicial proceedings in Mexico against Mr. Juan Carlos Ramírez Michaca, sentenced to 70 years imprisonment for homicide, may amount to violations of the rights to liberty and a fair trial and the prohibitions against arbitrary detention and torture, says the Special Rapporteur on torture. (MEX 6/2026)

• Bill S-228/25, which would amend the Criminal Code of Argentina by increasing the existing penalties and introducing aggravating circumstances for false reports related to gender-based violence offenses, “could have a chilling effect on the reporting of gender-based violence, domestic violence against minors, and crimes against sexual integrity, and could undermine the credibility of women and girls seeking protection,” says the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls. (ARG 6/2026)

• The “Constitutional Act of Quebec,” which claims to espouse the “supreme law of the Quebec nation,” has not been drafted with “any formal constitutional review of the bill’s compatibility with Canada’s international human rights obligations,” say the Special Rapporteurs on cultural rights, Indigenous Peoples, migrants, minorities, and freedom of religion. (CAN 4/2026)

Asia

• The ongoing detention of British national and Sikh activist Mr. Jagtar Singh Johal has occurred in the context of “major derelictions of investigative, prosecutorial and judicial standards of conduct and practice,” may amount to various violations of international law which are binding on India, say the Working Groups on arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on torture, freedom of opinion, human rights defenders, minorities, freedom of religion, and terrorism. (IND 6/2026)

• The new government of Bangladesh has “an excellent opportunity to send a concrete signal of its commitment to human rights by taking early action to resolve some human rights concerns which go back to the time of the Interim Government,” including arbitrary detentions, undue use of counter-terrorism legislation, and mob violence against media outlets and cultural centres,” say the Working Group on arbitrary detention and the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of opinion, cultural rights, freedom of assembly, independence of judges and lawyers, and terrorism. (BGD 1/2026)

Europe

• Excessive restrictions on the right to work for those who have been convicted of “crimes of extremist orientation,” as proposed in a draft resolution in Belarus, further entrenches the state’s already vague and overbroad “extremism” definitions in a manner that “does not appear necessary or proportionate to the stated aim of protecting children,” say the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteurs on Belarus, cultural rights, education, freedom of assembly, privacy, and terrorism. (BLR 4/2026)

Middle East

• The ongoing detention of British nationals Mrs. Lindsay Foreman and Mr. Craig Foreman in Iran’s Evin Prison — including their prolonged solitary confinement — constitute a form of torture and a violation of international law, say the Special Rapporteurs on Iran and torture. (IRN 3/2026)

• Arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, detention, and torture of members of the Bahá’í religious minority in Iran — including criminalisation on charges of “propaganda against the regime through the propagation of the Bahá’í Faith”, “membership in the misguided Bahá’í sect” — “constitute flagrant violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief, protected under article 18 of the ICCPR,” say the Working Groups on arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on minorities, Iran, freedom of religion, and torture. (IRN 4/2026)

• Widespread human rights violations committed during counter-terrorism operations and armed conflict in Egypt’s North Sinai Governate since 2012 — including unlawful killings, torture, disappearances, the recruitment of children, and the displacement of Bedouin communities — have allegedly been committed by Egyptian security forces and government-supported tribunal militias, which engages the state’s responsibility pursuant to the International Law Commission’s Draft Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, say the Working Groups on arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and peasants, and the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, cultural rights, education, freedom of opinion, housing, and internally displaced persons. (EGY 1/2026)